The Past
by Merodi-chan
Summary: What if... Ryou's father's research had been successful? What if, instead of Ichigo, someone else had been the first Mew Mew? Concept by me, with lotsa help from Blackrose108. Ch 4 up!:On Hold:
1. Chapter 1

This is a sort-of-not-really-AU Tokyo Mew Mew fic I came up with. It all started that fateful day, when I designed Taiyaki in my History Notebook (**Blackrose108, **I hope you remember this...). Anyway, arigatou gozaimasu, **Blackrose108, **for drawing the rest of the Mews, especially the uber cute ones!

It's kinda short, I know... But I'm working on my FE8 oneshot right now, and it's going to take a lot of effort...

**Disclaimer: **Tokyo Mew Mew belongs to Ikumi Mia-sensei, but Taiyaki belongs to me and **Blackrose108.**

* * *

Taiyaki kicked the empty can down the deserted street. Her pale, washed out blond hair flapped with each step she took. The light rain soon soaked her school uniform, which clung to her thin body. Tired, she dropped her bag and sat down in the mud.

_Why should I go on? I'm alone, like I've always been before. Taiyaki, the outcast. Maybe I should just die..._

The rain came down harder, as if to solidify this thought.

"So you're the one."

Taiyaki looked up at the unfamiliar face that matched the unfamiliar voice.

"Who are you?"

The stranger wore a yellow raincoat over a spotless white labcoat. The ends of his blond hair were getting wet; they stuck out from under his gray hat. He reached out a hand to her.

"I'm Dr. Shirougane. I've been watching you, Taiyaki Ikono."

"You've been stalking me!"

He took a step back.

"N-no! I just need to ask you something. Would you be interested in participating in a genetics experiment?"

_A genetics experiment? _

"Would this... er... experiment harm me in any way?"

"Well..."

-0-0-0-

Taiyaki crossed her arms. She sat on a stool in Dr. Shirougane's lab.

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into this. I don't even know you!"

The doctor rummaged around in the drawers of his desk. Then, he shuffled the mountain of printouts on top of the desk until he held up a packet triumphantly.

"Here it is! Now, you have to read and sign this before we can begin."

He handed it to Taiyaki, who almost dropped it due to its weight. She started flipping through it as he started to explain it.

"On the top we have the specs; you'll need to read those. Then, we have the experimental bill of rights. Read that too. Under that, there is the huge legal section. You can skip through that if you like. Then, we get to the part you have to sign. I don't require a parent or guardian signature if you are 16 or older, because this project is supposed to be kept secret. Well?"

_Okay, this looks like a DNA thing, not that I care. Blah, blah, blah... Bill of rights... Legal mumbo-jumbo..._

She looked at the last page.

"S-so I sign here?"

"That's right."

Taiyaki put the tip of her pen on the line. She hesitated for a moment, unsure.

_What if... something really weird happens? Like if I grow a tail? Oh, no one's going to care._

Her hand hovered for another second, and then she forced her arm to sign her name on the line.

* * *

So, what did you think? Should I continue? Because I already have the very last chapter written up. Please review! 


	2. Chapter 2

Hello, again, and welcome to the world of short chapters. I'll be your guide, Merodi-chan.

Thanks to **Azzie-chan, i love athrun,**and** Blackrose108 **for reviewing on the first chapter.

**Azzie-chan: **Yeah, I know my profile's a liar. I'm never who I seem... Just kidding!

**i love athrun: **Here's the new chapter; please stop shouting at me...

**Blackrose108: **No, I'm not obsessed, but at least we got our project approved...

* * *

Taiyaki put the tip of her pen on the line. She hesitated for a moment, unsure.

_What if... something really weird happens? Like if I grow a tail? Oh, no one's going to care._

Her hand hovered for another second, and then she forced her arm to sign her name on the line.

"Perfect!"

In a short while, the doctor had her hooked up to a variety of machines. Taiyaki stared at the various wires on her body.

"Oh, don't worry," Dr. Shirougane assured her, "most of these are just to monitor your vital stats."

Somehow, Taiyaki didn't feel very assured.

The doctor flipped a heavy red lever in the middle of the floor. The lights blinked out, replaced by a soft glow from a peculiar mechanism on the far side of the lab. It looked like a laser, Taiyaki was alarmed to realize.

_Wh-what's happening now? Is he going to shoot me?_

A white beam streamed from the device and hit Taiyaki full in the chest. She felt a jolt, and her heart vibrated. Taiyaki seemed to separate from reality, as a warmth spread through her body. She seemed to see a glowing ball of light form into the shape of a catlike animal, which pounced on her with the sensation of merging.

As the beam faded, Taiyaki was aware of her surroundings yet again. Strangely tired, she collapsed on the cold, tiled floor.

"It's a success!" She heard the doctor exclaim.

"What's a success?"

Suddenly, she realized that she wasn't wearing her school uniform. Instead, it was replaced by a skimpy white suit with a long, flowing sleeve on one side and a wrist-length glove on the other hand. She reached her gloved hand to her head to find two cat ears sticking up from her hair. A white tail lashed behind her.

_Ears! And a tail! I really did grow a tail! What's Mom going to say?_

The young doctor scurried over and clasped her hands in his.

"I've done it! I've done it! The DNA injection has resulted in the very first Mew Mew!"

"What the heck is a Mew Mew?" Taiyaki wanted to know. But Dr. Shirougane was too excited to answer.

His happy mood was interrupted by a loud crashing noise.

"Dr. Shirougane, we've found you at last."

Two beings with pointed ears floated into the room through the broken window.

"C-cake... Muffin..." The doctor slowly backed away from them.

Cake, the taller one, pointed at Taiyaki.

"Who's this? Oh, well, it doesn't matter. Today, you die!" He drew a long, black bow and shot and arrow through the air.

Dr. Shirougane quickly dodged and called to Taiyaki.

"Use your power!"

Muffin pulled a ball of fire from the air and aimed it at Taiyaki. She flipped up over it and landed on the shelves.

_Whoa... I can't believe I just did that!_

She pushed off the shelves toward Cake, who was drawing his bow to shoot at the doctor again.

_My... power? What... _

"Ribbon Taiyaki Blade!"

A white sword appeared in her hands, and she grasped the hilt tightly to aim at the doctor's attacker.

Cake saw her out of the corner of his eye. Assessing her as a threat, he called to Muffin.

"We'll come back later. It seems that he has a new weapon." They disappeared into the air.

The sword dissipated as Taiyaki's booted feet touched down on the floor.

"What the heck is a Mew Mew?" she repeated.

* * *

Please review... I need to get out of this rut so I can work on Flower in Ice again... 


	3. Chapter 3

This chapter is a little longer than the others, I think...

**Kotori Susayski: **Thank you so much for reviewing! I hope I can continue to write the many chapters that this fic demands...

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, but I do own this Mew crew!

* * *

"What the heck is a Mew Mew?" she repeated. 

"A Mew Mew is... well... you. I've infused you with the DNA of the white tiger. With the power of a Rad Data animal, you'll be able to fight the aliens when they try to take over the world," the doctor responded. Taiyaki was about to ask about the aliens when there came a knock at the door. Dr. Shirougane yanked the door open to reveal a pretty, young lady, older than Taiyaki. She had light brown hair that she wore curled into a bun on top of her head, and she wore a pale rose long-sleeved blouse and a dark blue knee-length skirt under a spotless white lab coat identical to Dr. Shirougane's.

She was breathing hard, as if she had ran all the way to the building where the lab was housed, and then up all of the stairs, too. Her face was flushed red, and wisps of hair had escaped the bun on her head.

"D-doctor... I'm sorry..." she managed to gasp. Then, she spotted Taiyaki, standing in the middle of the room in her Mew Mew uniform. The new woman's eyes brightened, and she laughed delightedly.

"You did it!" she exclaimed. "A real Mew Mew!"

"Yes," the doctor agreed, "and I was lucky to have her with me when the aliens attacked this time. Oh, by the way, I did some more research last night. I found your animal."

"Really?"

Taiyaki stood silently as the doctor and the woman chatted some more in the doorway. Finally, as she was about to ask to leave, the doctor turned to her and said,

"This is Taiyaki Ikono." He motioned for her to come over, and she did, slowly.

The woman held out her hand and smiled at Taiyaki. "So you're the first Mew Mew, are you? My name is Okonomyaki Akiiru, Dr. Shirougane's lab assistant. I hope we'll become good friends."

_So **that's **what was weird about this! His lab partner wasn't even here._

On the outside, Taiyaki returned the smile, but inwardly, she had a lot of questions for Miss Akiiru, and also for the doctor.

The cuckoo clock on the wall chirped loudly. Somehow, it hadn't been damaged in the battle, in contrast to the rest of the room, which had charred scraps of paper floating through it. The doctor jumped, startled by the noise. "4:00 already? You'd better get on home, Taiyaki. You've done enough for one day. Okonomyaki and I have papers to file and research to conduct."

He shooed her out the door and quickly closed it before she could get any of her questions out of her mouth. A few moments later, the door opened again, but only to let her bag fly out.

_Okay... Now, how do I get out of this costume and into my regular clothes?_

She pondered this for a minute, until her uniform began to glow. She floated into the air, and her uniform disappeared into specks of light, which were drawn to a necklace that wasn't on her neck before. Her school uniform reappeared, and she lowered down to the ground lightly.

_Aha..._

-0-0-0-

Cake and Muffin sat on the cold tile of their spaceship. They were the surveyors of their race, sent to check on the world that was soon to become theirs.

Muffin scowled. "The heat isn't working, _again_."

Cake sighed; this was the fifth time she had said this in the past hour.

"I told you, this is an old model and the heating systems aren't very stable. We only had so much to spend on a spaceship, and this was the only one we could afford."

"Yeah, well, we're surveyors, the ones who do the dirty work for Deep Blue. They could at least give us a raise once in a while."

Cake sighed again, and got up. He paced around before he spoke again.

"Instead of complaining, we should be planning our next attack. The doctor has succeeded in creating the first Mew Mew. We needto come up with better weapon, and soon, or else setting up the Earth base will become close to impossible."

Muffin sneered at him. "And you think you have a good plan?"

"Yes, I believe I do."

* * *

Please review... Your response means a lot to me...

I really should go work on Flower in Ice and Birthday Blessings, now, shouldn't I?

-Merodi-chan, 10.30.05


	4. Chapter 4

I'm sorry it took so long to update, but I was bogged down by school and the like. I hope I can make the next chapter longer... Actually, it's not as short as the first chapter, so I guess it's not too bad.

**Kotori Susayski: **Thank you so much for reviewing! I hope I really am a good writer, and I hope my writing is up to your expectations. Any predictions so far?

**Blackrose108: **Why did you mention them? They don't come in until later... much later...

* * *

Muffin sneered at him. "And you think you have a good plan?" 

"Yes, I believe I do."

-0-0-0-

Taiyaki unlocked the door to her apartment. She was living alone in Tokyo, so she could attend a good high school. She closed the door behind her and stood there for a few minutes, reflecting on the events of the day: Dr. Shirougane, the experiment, and the aliens.

_Pretty whacked, right?_

She resignedly pulled out her homework, but she fell asleep at her desk after 10 minutes, exhausted. She began to dream...

_Water? No, light. It's white and blue... Ripples. I can see a... cat? No, it's bigger, must be a... tiger. Tiger, ears, tail. Tail? It's changing. Now it looks like a person... Nope, the ears are still there, and the tail. A sword? Ha... That must be me. Do I really look that weird? Wait, what... no, who's that? It's... one of those aliens! He's going to... No! Blue explosion... That bird was..._

-0-0-0-

"This worked with her, but I don't know if it will work right for you."

"It's alright; I'll be fine."

"Okay, if you're sure..."

_bzzap!_

-0-0-0-

The train whistle sounded as Taiyaki sluggishly rubbed her eyes. Her alarm clock showed 7:15.

"I'm going to be late! I have to be at the school before 7:30!" She scrambled to change her clothes and stuff her breakfast down her throat while hopping around on one foot, trying to put her shoes on. Grabbing her bag, she rushed out the door and almost fell down the stairs. Miraculously, she flipped over before she could slam her face into the unforgiving wood.

_Okay... That's strange, considering I've never been much of a gymnast. Oh, well, I have to get going!_

Taiyaki ran down the street, desperate to be on time.

_I can't be late today! Wait, I think there's a shortcut here._

She veered off the sidewalk and into the bushes, cutting through the trees. As she broke through the greenery, she didn't notice two pairs of eyes watching her.

-0-0-0-

"Hah... I made it... Whew..." Taiyaki, suddenly self-conscious, quickly picked the leaves from her hair and straightened her uniform. She was supposed to meet someone today, Hiroshi, and she'd had a crush on him for some months now. She had been ecstatic when he had asked her out, over the dozens of other girls vying for his hand. The absurdity of her earlier actions suddenly struck her.

_And just yesterday, I wanted to die. Either I changed my mind really fast, or I'm just crazy. Probably crazy._

"Taiyaki! You're here already?" The brown-haired high-schooler waved to her as he approached the bench where she sat, in the school courtyard. She blinked, momentarily surprised by his statement. Usually, _she_ was the one who was late.

"Let's go to the amusement park now," he said, smiling and holding out his hand to her. A faint blush rising to her cheeks, Taiyaki hesitantly took the offered hand and stood up beside her date, who pulled her along toward the train station.

-0-0-0-

"How cute, they're on a date," Muffin simpered sarcastically.

"Stop it, Muffin," ordered Cake. "We're on a mission, remember?"

"Of course I remember, but that doesn't mean I can't make fun of her at the same time." Muffin _hmph_ed and crossed her arms.

Cake sighed again, exasperated(it seemed like he was doing a lot of sighing these days), and floated closer to the trees. One of his pointed ears twitched. "Come on, let's finish the project." He motioned for her to follow him, slightly impatient as he stuck one of his hands into the lush green leaves.

"_Alright, _coming."

* * *

I really, _really _don't like writer's block. Or homework, for that matter. Anyway, thank you for reading this stupidly short chapter, and don't forget to review! 

-Merodi-chan, 11.9.05.


End file.
